Gold Coast crime: Mum Sharna Shevchenko furious son’s bike was stolen from Southport bike shed

Police have revealed a shocking number of bicycle thefts across the city. This 13-year-old boy is just one unfortunate victim.

A generous Gold Coaster gifted Josh Shevchenko with a new a mountain bike after his old bike was stolen from a Southport bike shed. Picture: Supplied

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A GOLD Coast mum who was left feeling “sick in the gut” after her teen son’s mountain bike was swiped from a Southport bike shed says the incident had a silver lining.

Sharna Shevchenko’s 13-year-old son Josh returned to the bike shed at Queen St, Southport, on Tuesday afternoon to find his new mountain bike was gone.

It is the second bike of the Shevchenkos that has been stolen from the same location.

Josh Shevchenko, 13, called his mum on Tuesday in tears after his mountain bike was stolen from the bike shed. Picture: Supplied.

A Queensland Police Service spokesman said about 80 bicycles were reported stolen from Southport this year.

He said about 60 per cent had been filed pending further information, 10 stealing charges had been laid and 10 were still being investigated.

The number of reports averaged between six and 10 a month, he said.

The furious mum took to Facebook on Wednesday for help to find her son’s bike.

She said: “My 13yr old son’s $700 new mountain bike was stolen from Queen St bike shed on Tuesday 10/11/2020. Yes it was locked up. Sadly we saved for 8 months for some low-life to steal a kid’s bike.”

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An advertising image of the mountain bike stolen from a bike shed on Queen St at Southport on Tuesday.

Several locals offered to help Josh get back on two wheels.

Connor Arellano said: “I’m sorry for his loss, I have the exact same bike that’s been laying around for a while doing nothing as I don’t use it. If you guys have no luck (private message) me and he can have it.”

She said by Wednesday afternoon a generous local gifted Josh the same model bike after seeing her plea for help on social media.

Josh riding on his new bike.

“The support from the Gold Coast community has been amazing,” Ms Shevchenko said.

“We come from the Northern Territory and we’ve never experienced anything like this before. I feel sick in the gut about it.”

She said Josh had Autism spectrum disorder and a tendency to be obsessive-compulsive which meant he wrapped his metal cable lock around the bike’s frame twice.

Ms Shevchenko said the Gold Coast City Council bike sheds were a great initiative but suggested the walls were removed to deter thieves.

“Once someone’s in there, it’s pretty obscured and you can’t see in. If they took those walls off, people sitting in their cars in traffic would see if someone was tampering with bike locks.”

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